This post contains discussion of substance abuse.
Listen: We're all sick and tired of hearing the same old myths and falsehoods repeated by the people around us. Does no one ever learn?!?!
U/Bi_Aint_Shi recently asked the people of Reddit, "What misconception are you tired of having to correct?" Who knows, maybe some of these will make you angry as well — or maybe you'll even learn something new:
1. "I’m a payroll accountant. If I have to explain to one more person that you can’t lose money by getting a raise because you’re in a 'higher tax bracket,' they are going to have to change the term 'going postal' to 'going payroll.'"
2. "'Introverted' doesn’t mean you’re shy; 'extroverted' doesn’t mean you’re outgoing."
—u/kingstunner
3. "The current versions of AI are not conscious. They do not 'think,' they do not 'understand,' and they sure as shit don't 'feel' or 'experience.' I see people talking about ChatGPT like, 'Let's listen to what it wants from us, we need to understand what it is experiencing.' There is no 'it.' There is no there there. The way people anthropomorphize AI with total conviction, with total certainty that it is just a breath away from consciousness, is really irritating not because it's a crazy idea — it's not — but because people reach their conclusion based on zero understanding of how the technology works. It's OK to not understand how it functions, but then the next step is to educate yourself, not to dive into the deep end of ignorance and assume you know something that is just wrong."
4. "I'm an alcoholic. No, I don't drink every day, I have never been drunk at work, I always pay my bills, and I haven't lost any relationships as a result of my drinking. I have never stolen money, I have never driven drunk. But I drink too much when I start. I have no stop button, and I will drink to the point of oblivion unless I am otherwise forced to stop. I black out. I say vile things to people. It's not a matter of 'Learning to moderate.' If you don't think I am an alcoholic, it's because you are lucky to have never seen me actually drinking. If my life hasn't been ruined, it's because it hasn't happened yet. But it will. Binge drinking is a thing. And I am not intending to ever go back."
5. "The difference between a vagina and a vulva."
6. "I hate having to tell people that vaccines don't cause autism. The guy who originally came up with that theory used it to push his own product at the expense of the existing vaccine, and most of the 'evidence' people point to when they believe this comes from correlation, not causation."
7. "Frivolous lawsuits like the McDonald’s coffee example. The lady suffered third degree burns from coffee spilled on her lap. Her labia fused!! She only wanted the bills covered. Fucking Ronald’s PR team made it seem like she took a sip of above-warm coffee and sued for inconvenience. That poor woman."
8. "A 4% vacancy rate doesn’t mean 4% of houses are just sitting unused for no reason. There’s what’s known as frictional vacancy, which is when a house is temporarily empty because it’s being sold or the renters have moved out and the new ones haven’t moved in yet."
—u/HarrySatchel
9. "People who prefer brown eggs do so because they believe brown eggs are healthier and more natural than white eggs. However, the truth is that all eggs are nutritionally very similar, regardless of their size, grade, or color. Both brown and white eggs are healthy foods. A typical egg contains lots of vitamins, minerals, and high-quality protein, all wrapped up into less than 80 calories."
—u/Back2Bach
10. "Quarantine and 'stopping the curve' was not meant to prevent anyone from getting COVID — it was meant to slow down the spread so that hospitals did not get overloaded. I'm so fucking tired of hearing people complain about how useless quarantine was because it didn't completely magically stop COVID or something, when that was literally never the fucking point. Also, the mask wasn't to prevent you from breathing in other people's shit — it's to stop you from spreading your germs further because many people will be asymptomatic carriers for anywhere between a few days to a few weeks after infection before showing any symptoms."
—u/Vanilla_Neko
11. "People asking my boyfriend and I which one of us is the 'female and male' in the relationship. In a same-sex or same-gender relationship, there is not a 'man and a woman.' My boyfriend and I are both men."
12. "Depression = sad."
13. "That if I have blue hair and tattoos, I crave attention. Nope. I hate attention, it's panic-inducing. I just really love tattoos and colored hair and do it to make myself happy."
14. "There were no trans people in the past — or, the apparent misconception that not letting people transition somehow makes fewer people trans."
—u/xyious
15. "That I am like Rain Man or Sheldon Cooper because I'm autistic."
—u/hiya84
16. "Bisexual = polyamorous. Also, that being bi is only 'real' when I'm in a same-sex relationship."
—u/Bi_Aint_Shi
17. "That everyone wants children."
—u/ThtB1tch666
18. "That the eye has its own immune system, and if your brain found out about the eye, it would attack and destroy it. The brain doesn't control the immune system that way, like a general sending soldiers to attack. The eye has the same immune system as the body; it just has some immune privileges. The one area that doesn't have the immune system is the cornea, because it's not vascularized."
19. "The concept of 'alpha' and 'beta.' The guy who came up with them spent his entire career trying to disprove it. Humans don't have alphas and betas, and wolves don't have them either. There is no pack animal on this entire planet where they have one ruler that dictates everything and has an absolute ruler. Pack animals work as groups, based off strengths. Hell, even bees will overthrow their queen if need be."
—u/666Edgelord
20. "As someone who currently goes to cooking school, if I need to explain that the red shit you see coming out of your medium rare steak isn’t blood one more time, I'm gonna have a goddamn aneurysm."
—u/Weirdo69213
Agree? Disagree? Have your own additions? See you in the comments!
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.